Envy on social media: The good, the bad and the ugly

Abstract Observing the positive aspects of others’ lives on social media (SM) can bring about envy among users. Drawing from social comparison and technology acceptance theories, this study develops a research model to explain how envy occurs and impacts SM users’ behavior. In this work, we conducted two studies across three different SM settings to investigate two types of envy, benign and malicious envy. The results show that malicious envy is negatively related to the dependent variable of SM use intention while benign envy facilitates it. The findings provide many valuable contributions to both information systems (IS) academia and industry. This study identifies the unique SM factors intertwining with envy. Moreover, this work helps SM users and practitioners be aware of the potential envy issue on SM so they can take effective actions to enhance SM use.